A bit of advice
by apopl
Summary: After waking up, Byleth finds the old advice box has one last question needing an answer.


Byleth wasn't really sure what to do. After spending five years asleep, she was having trouble providing input to the council meetings. She wasn't used to feeling so useless. She had left while the meeting was still ongoing, only excusing herself when she'd found her head spinning from the names of nobles and allegiencies she couldn't keep straight in her head. This had led to her current musing as she wandered through the old broken cathedral.

Five years had passed, yet it had only seemed like a few days for her. It was an odd experience, realizing she'd been asleep for so long and not being able to remember when she had even fallen asleep. The last memory she had was of the immaculate one appearing before her.

All of her students were older now, more mature. It was disgruntling to realize how much she had missed of their lives. Despite her usual impassiveness, she had come to greatly care for each and every one of them. She'd do whatever it took to protect them all. She'd even stood against Rhea to protect Edelgard.

This all brought her back to the problem at hand, how could she be useful to her students outside the battlefield? It would require weeks to get up to date on all she'd need to know to even get through a strategy meeting. She couldn't be an effective field leader without the knowledge of who's who, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and where the battles are likely to be held.

Without this information she'd be going in blind and was likely to make a mistake. In her case, she had the power to reverse time to insure no mistake haunted her forever, but it was a band-aid that only worked so many times. In fact, she considered any situation where her powers were the only option as a failure on her part as a strategist.

She wandered some more, taking note of the damage done in the battle five years ago. There was rubble everywhere, it seems nobody had bothered to fix the monument of the religion they now fought against.

She then noticed something, a glimpse of red buried in one of the rubble piles. Curious, she dug down and found a small box with a horizontal slot on top and the Black Eagle emblem engraved on the front. It was her classes' advice box. Curiosity got the better of her, and she went to check it. Brushing off some dust, she found the latch and opened the box. Inside was a single piece of paper, seemingly from before the battle for Garreg Mach, since she had answered the remaining questions only days before the fight in the crypt.

After pulling it out, she unfolded the paper and read the slip. And my what a curious question it was!

* * *

Byleth entered the council chambers not half an hour later, this time carrying a now dusted advice box. At this point the topic had changed to the various supply routes and the necessary defenses. Byleth's unexpected re-entry caused the assembled to pause their discussion. Edelgard had taken up her seat at the head of the table with the rest of the Black Eagle house sitting around the table. Edelgard was the first to speak up, "welcome back professor, I can not help but notice that you seem to have brought our old question box, would you mind enlightening us as to why?"

Byleth sets the box down onto the table before addressing the question "I found this and realized there was one question left from before the war," staring at Edelgard with her unreadable expression she breaks into a small smirk, "And I'd be remiss not to answer this question."

Edelgard has a moment of realization after that sinks in, her face drops into an expression of disbelief and horror.

Unfolding the paper, Byleth then reads the question, "I've found myself falling in love with you despite knowing we must fight against each other. I'm sorry for what I must do."

Byleth lets that sink in for a second, a small smirk gracing her lips. The group is silent, Edelgards face is red, though she attempts to look as stoic as normal. Hubert, uncharacteristically, lets out a soft chuckle. Before anyone else can get out of their stupor, Byleth continues, "it's not really a question, but I have an answer nonetheless. If you're still interested, I would like to see you later tonight for… tutoring sessions, and for the record, I do forgive you." Byleth spins around, coat blowing around in the wake of her turn. She walks to the door before sending a coy smile back to the group and making one last announcement, "By the way, I think I'll take up teaching again, test all of your skills and see what I can help shore up. Feel free to use the advice box. Goodnight everyone."

Byleth walks out the door, Edelgard's burning red face hits the table, Hubert's chuckle becomes a bellowing evil laugh, and then all hell breaks loose.

* * *

**Hi everybody! I'm new to this whole writing part of fanfiction, though I've been meaning to do it for awhile. I currently have plans for one Worm fic and one other FE3H fic, both much longer than this. It may be awhile because I'm trying to learn everything I can about the game, the lore, and the series. I'm very behind. And, spoiler, everything I'm going to write will be very gay.**


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